What do you think?
Rate this book
Mutmassungen über Jakob: Roman
This arresting novel by one of Germany's foremost modern writers dramatizes the ideological conflict between East Europe and the West at the time of the Hungarian revolt. The story, which centers around Jakob Abs, an East German railroad dispatcher, illuminates the psychological and political reality of living in a partitioned Germany.
202 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
23 people are currently reading
616 people want to read
About the author
Uwe Johnson
102 books63 followersUwe Johnson was a German writer, editor, and scholar.
Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania (now Kamień Pomorski, Poland). His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern. At the end of World War II in 1945, he fled with his family to Anklam (West Pomerania); his father died in a Soviet internment camp (Fünfeichen). The family eventually settled in Güstrow, where he attended John-Brinckman-Oberschule 1948–1952. He went on to study German philology, first in Rostock (1952–54), then in Leipzig (1954–56). His Diplomarbeit (final thesis) was on Ernst Barlach. Due to his lack of political support for the Communist regime of East Germany, he was suspended from the University on 17 June 1953 but was later reinstated.
Beginning in 1953, Johnson worked on the novel Ingrid Babendererde, rejected by various publishing houses and unpublished during his lifetime.
In 1956, Johnson's mother left for West Berlin. As a result, he was not allowed to work a normal job in the East. Unemployed for political reasons, he translated Herman Melville's Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (the translation was published in 1961) and began to write the novel Mutmassungen über Jakob, published in 1959 by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main. Johnson himself moved to West Berlin at this time. He promptly became associated with Gruppe 47, which Hans Magnus Enzensberger once described as "the Central Café of a literature without a capital." [1]
During the early 1960s, Johnson continued to write and publish fiction, and also supported himself as a translator, mainly from English-language works, and as an editor. He travelled to America in 1961; the following year he was married, had a daughter, received a scholarship to Villa Massimo, Rome, and won the Prix International.
1964 - for the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Reviews of GDR television programmes boycotted by the West German press (published under the title "Der 5. Kanal", "The Fifth Channel", 1987).
In 1965, Johnson travelled again to America. He then edited Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti. Buch der Wendungen. Fragmente 1933-1956 (Me-ti: the Book of Changes. Fragments, 1933-1956). From 1966 through 1968 he worked in New York City as a textbook editor at Harcourt, Brace & World and lived with his family in an apartment at 243 Riverside Drive (Manhattan). During this time (in 1967) he began work on his magnum opus, the Jahrestage and edited Das neue Fenster (The new window), a textbook of German-language readings for English-speaking students learning German.
On 1 January 1967 protesters from Johnson's own West Berlin apartment building founded Kommune 1. He first learned about it by reading it in the newspaper. Returning to West Berlin in 1969, he became a member of the West German PEN Center and of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts). In 1970, he published the first volume of his Jahrestage (Anniversaries). Two more volumes were to follow in the next three years, but the fourth volume would not appear until 1983.
Meanwhile, in 1972 Johnson became Vice President of the Academy of the Arts and was the editor of Max Frisch's Tagebuch 1966-1971. In 1974, he moved to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey; shortly after, he broke off work on Jahrestage due partly to health problems and partly to writer's block.
This was not a completely unproductive period. Johnson published some shorter works and continued to do some work as an editor. In 1977, he was admitted to the Darmstädter Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Darmstadt Academy for Speech and Writing); two years later he informally withdrew. In 1979 he gave a series of Lectures on poetics at the University of Frankfurt (published posthumously as Begleitumstände. Frankfurter Vorlesungen).
In 1983, the fourth volume of Jahrestage was published, but Johnson broke off a reading tour for health reasons. He died on 22 February 1984 in Sheerness in England. His body was not found until
Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania (now Kamień Pomorski, Poland). His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern. At the end of World War II in 1945, he fled with his family to Anklam (West Pomerania); his father died in a Soviet internment camp (Fünfeichen). The family eventually settled in Güstrow, where he attended John-Brinckman-Oberschule 1948–1952. He went on to study German philology, first in Rostock (1952–54), then in Leipzig (1954–56). His Diplomarbeit (final thesis) was on Ernst Barlach. Due to his lack of political support for the Communist regime of East Germany, he was suspended from the University on 17 June 1953 but was later reinstated.
Beginning in 1953, Johnson worked on the novel Ingrid Babendererde, rejected by various publishing houses and unpublished during his lifetime.
In 1956, Johnson's mother left for West Berlin. As a result, he was not allowed to work a normal job in the East. Unemployed for political reasons, he translated Herman Melville's Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (the translation was published in 1961) and began to write the novel Mutmassungen über Jakob, published in 1959 by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main. Johnson himself moved to West Berlin at this time. He promptly became associated with Gruppe 47, which Hans Magnus Enzensberger once described as "the Central Café of a literature without a capital." [1]
During the early 1960s, Johnson continued to write and publish fiction, and also supported himself as a translator, mainly from English-language works, and as an editor. He travelled to America in 1961; the following year he was married, had a daughter, received a scholarship to Villa Massimo, Rome, and won the Prix International.
1964 - for the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Reviews of GDR television programmes boycotted by the West German press (published under the title "Der 5. Kanal", "The Fifth Channel", 1987).
In 1965, Johnson travelled again to America. He then edited Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti. Buch der Wendungen. Fragmente 1933-1956 (Me-ti: the Book of Changes. Fragments, 1933-1956). From 1966 through 1968 he worked in New York City as a textbook editor at Harcourt, Brace & World and lived with his family in an apartment at 243 Riverside Drive (Manhattan). During this time (in 1967) he began work on his magnum opus, the Jahrestage and edited Das neue Fenster (The new window), a textbook of German-language readings for English-speaking students learning German.
On 1 January 1967 protesters from Johnson's own West Berlin apartment building founded Kommune 1. He first learned about it by reading it in the newspaper. Returning to West Berlin in 1969, he became a member of the West German PEN Center and of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts). In 1970, he published the first volume of his Jahrestage (Anniversaries). Two more volumes were to follow in the next three years, but the fourth volume would not appear until 1983.
Meanwhile, in 1972 Johnson became Vice President of the Academy of the Arts and was the editor of Max Frisch's Tagebuch 1966-1971. In 1974, he moved to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey; shortly after, he broke off work on Jahrestage due partly to health problems and partly to writer's block.
This was not a completely unproductive period. Johnson published some shorter works and continued to do some work as an editor. In 1977, he was admitted to the Darmstädter Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Darmstadt Academy for Speech and Writing); two years later he informally withdrew. In 1979 he gave a series of Lectures on poetics at the University of Frankfurt (published posthumously as Begleitumstände. Frankfurter Vorlesungen).
In 1983, the fourth volume of Jahrestage was published, but Johnson broke off a reading tour for health reasons. He died on 22 February 1984 in Sheerness in England. His body was not found until
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 7, 2020
Diese Lektüre musste ich mir wirklich hart erarbeiten, denn Uwe Johnson verlangt viel von seiner Leserschaft. Die Geschichte rund um den bei der Deutschen Reichsbahn in der DDR als Dispatcher (Stellwerkleiter) angestellten Jakob Abs, der im November 1956 aus ungeklärten Gründen auf seinem Gleisgelände vom Zug erfasst wird und stirbt, wird weder chronologisch noch stringent in einer bestimmten Form oder durch eine bestimmte Person erzählt. Vielmehr lesen sich die einzelnen Absätze wie Gesprächsprotokolle, Verhöre, Gedankenströme oder auch mal zwischendurch durch einen Erzähler, der aber alles andere als allwissend ist. Und so bekommt man quasi die Glasscherben eines Spiegels präsentiert, denn man mit Mühe sich erst selbst zusammenpuzzeln muss. Dabei ist es noch nicht mal sicher, wenn man in eine Scherbe hineinschaut, wen man eigentlich sieht, sprich, wer der Sprecher dieser Gedanken ist. Oft ergibt es sich aus dem Kontext. Aber es kam immer wieder vor, dass ich im Dunkeln tappte und so bei einem Blick in die Inhaltsangabe im Netz am Ende der Lektüre überrascht war, wie das Bild tatsächlich aussah. Ich lag aber sehr nahe dran. Nur bei manchen Handlungsabschnitten habe ich mich gefragt, ob ich die wirklich gelesen hatte.
Das Ganze läßt mich aber alles andere als unzufrieden zurück. Vielmehr war es eine spannende Reise, die vor allem durch die faszinierende Sprache Johnsons erleichtert wurde. Das Buch lebte für mich gar nicht so sehr durch die Handlung, sondern mehr durch die Atmosphäre, die bei der Beschreibung des Alltags in der DDR im Jahr 1956 zum Ausdruck kam. Es wirkt alles irgendwie grau und melancholisch, ja freudlos würde ich fast sagen. Oft ist dieser nöhlende Ton zu hören, wie wenn nachts um 1 Uhr zwei letzte Gäste einer verrauchten Bar in ihren Erinnerungen festhängen.
Die Figuren sind auch nicht plakativ. Jakob ist still und pflichtbewusst. Seine Freundin Gesine aus Kindertagen, die in den Westen flüchtet, ist keineswegs überzeugt vom Kapitalismus des Westens. Jonas, der früher Arbeitskollege Gesines aus Ost-Berlin, ist ein kritischer Intellektueller, der aber keine flammende Reden gegen den Sozialismus hält, sondern vielmehr Angst vor dem Stalinismus der Sowjetunion hat und sich eine Art neuen, menschlichen Sozialismus wünscht. Diese Dreiecksbeziehung durchbricht Herr Rohlfs, Mitarbeiter der Staatssicherheit, der aber zunächst nicht kalt und herrisch auftritt, sondern den Plan verfolgt, dass Gesine als Spionin im Westen arbeitet. Erst gegen Ende zeigt sich in ihm die unerbittliche Staatsmacht.
In den Wochen vor Jakobs tödlichen Unfall ist das Weltgeschehen durch den blutigen Niederschlagung der Revolution in Ungarn durch die Sowjetunion im Osten und die Suez-Krise in Ägypten im Westen geprägt, bei dem westliche Mächte kriegerisch eingreifen. Die Protagonisten des Buchs heißen beide Konflikte nicht gut und sehen somit eigentlich weder im Osten noch im Westen ihre Heimat. Diese Zerrissenheit, die ja geradezu typisch für das geteilte Deutschland ist, kommt hier hervorragend zur Geltung. Es ist ein Buch, bei dem ich schon während des Lesens dachte, dass ich es bestimmt irgendwann nochmal lesen werde, ja lesen muss. Bestimmt ergeben sich dann ganz andere Blickwinkel. War es am Ende Mord, Selbstmord oder doch nur ein tragischer Unfall? „Aber Jakob ist immer quer über die Gleise gegangen“ (erster und bester Satz des Buchs). Spannend.
Das Ganze läßt mich aber alles andere als unzufrieden zurück. Vielmehr war es eine spannende Reise, die vor allem durch die faszinierende Sprache Johnsons erleichtert wurde. Das Buch lebte für mich gar nicht so sehr durch die Handlung, sondern mehr durch die Atmosphäre, die bei der Beschreibung des Alltags in der DDR im Jahr 1956 zum Ausdruck kam. Es wirkt alles irgendwie grau und melancholisch, ja freudlos würde ich fast sagen. Oft ist dieser nöhlende Ton zu hören, wie wenn nachts um 1 Uhr zwei letzte Gäste einer verrauchten Bar in ihren Erinnerungen festhängen.
Die Figuren sind auch nicht plakativ. Jakob ist still und pflichtbewusst. Seine Freundin Gesine aus Kindertagen, die in den Westen flüchtet, ist keineswegs überzeugt vom Kapitalismus des Westens. Jonas, der früher Arbeitskollege Gesines aus Ost-Berlin, ist ein kritischer Intellektueller, der aber keine flammende Reden gegen den Sozialismus hält, sondern vielmehr Angst vor dem Stalinismus der Sowjetunion hat und sich eine Art neuen, menschlichen Sozialismus wünscht. Diese Dreiecksbeziehung durchbricht Herr Rohlfs, Mitarbeiter der Staatssicherheit, der aber zunächst nicht kalt und herrisch auftritt, sondern den Plan verfolgt, dass Gesine als Spionin im Westen arbeitet. Erst gegen Ende zeigt sich in ihm die unerbittliche Staatsmacht.
In den Wochen vor Jakobs tödlichen Unfall ist das Weltgeschehen durch den blutigen Niederschlagung der Revolution in Ungarn durch die Sowjetunion im Osten und die Suez-Krise in Ägypten im Westen geprägt, bei dem westliche Mächte kriegerisch eingreifen. Die Protagonisten des Buchs heißen beide Konflikte nicht gut und sehen somit eigentlich weder im Osten noch im Westen ihre Heimat. Diese Zerrissenheit, die ja geradezu typisch für das geteilte Deutschland ist, kommt hier hervorragend zur Geltung. Es ist ein Buch, bei dem ich schon während des Lesens dachte, dass ich es bestimmt irgendwann nochmal lesen werde, ja lesen muss. Bestimmt ergeben sich dann ganz andere Blickwinkel. War es am Ende Mord, Selbstmord oder doch nur ein tragischer Unfall? „Aber Jakob ist immer quer über die Gleise gegangen“ (erster und bester Satz des Buchs). Spannend.
Read
December 17, 2020Auch nach 253 Seiten bin ich mir nicht im Klaren, warum Jakob Abs starb, sterben musst, sich das Leben nahm, verunglückte oder umgebracht wurde. Deutlich geworden sind mir aber die intellektuellen und emotionellen Zwänge junger Menschen, die das Kriegsende als Jugendliche erlebt haben und in die der junge deutsche Arbeiter und Bauernstaat so viel Hoffnung setzte. Sie sind hin- und hergerissen zwischen Aufopferungswillen und dem Wunsch sich selbst zu verwirklichen, zwischen Familie und eigenständigem Leben, Verantwortungsbewusstsein und Freiheitsdrang.
Im Schicksalsjahr 1956 schien mit der nach dem XX. Parteitag der KPdSU begonnenen Entstalinisierung eine neue Epoche angebrochen zu sein, die treffen als „Tauwetter-Periode“ bezeichnet wird. Aber schon der blutig niedergeworfene Ungarn-Aufstand im selben Jahr zeigte die Grenzen der neugefundenen Freiheit auf, auch in der DDR.
Die individuellen Zweifel werden überlagert von politischen Spannungen des geteilten aber noch nicht gespaltenen Deutschlands, in die Jakob, seine Mutter, der alte Cresspahl, dessen Tochter Gesine und deren Studienkollege Jonas geraten. Mit Herrn Rohlfs von der Staatssicherheit kommt aber auch die andere Seite zur Sprache und erhält ein menschliches Gesicht.
Was diesen Roman besonders macht ist die poetische Sprache Uwe Johnsons, die visuelle und akustische Bilder präzise wiedergibt. Die Stimmung einer mecklenburgischen Kleinstadt ist ebenso greifbar wie die Atmosphäre im Stellwerk eines großen Güterbahnhofs, Jakobs Arbeitsplatz. Dies ist umso erstaunlicher als der Autor diesen Roman schon mit Anfang Zwanzig geschrieben hat. Wie kann diese reife Sprache in einem so jungen Menschen entstehen? Auch dies bleibt mir ein Geheimnis. Ich selbst fühle mich als Leser jedenfalls nicht reif genug dieses Buch zu bewerten. Ich weiß nur, dass es ein prägendes Erlebnis war.
Im Schicksalsjahr 1956 schien mit der nach dem XX. Parteitag der KPdSU begonnenen Entstalinisierung eine neue Epoche angebrochen zu sein, die treffen als „Tauwetter-Periode“ bezeichnet wird. Aber schon der blutig niedergeworfene Ungarn-Aufstand im selben Jahr zeigte die Grenzen der neugefundenen Freiheit auf, auch in der DDR.
Die individuellen Zweifel werden überlagert von politischen Spannungen des geteilten aber noch nicht gespaltenen Deutschlands, in die Jakob, seine Mutter, der alte Cresspahl, dessen Tochter Gesine und deren Studienkollege Jonas geraten. Mit Herrn Rohlfs von der Staatssicherheit kommt aber auch die andere Seite zur Sprache und erhält ein menschliches Gesicht.
Was diesen Roman besonders macht ist die poetische Sprache Uwe Johnsons, die visuelle und akustische Bilder präzise wiedergibt. Die Stimmung einer mecklenburgischen Kleinstadt ist ebenso greifbar wie die Atmosphäre im Stellwerk eines großen Güterbahnhofs, Jakobs Arbeitsplatz. Dies ist umso erstaunlicher als der Autor diesen Roman schon mit Anfang Zwanzig geschrieben hat. Wie kann diese reife Sprache in einem so jungen Menschen entstehen? Auch dies bleibt mir ein Geheimnis. Ich selbst fühle mich als Leser jedenfalls nicht reif genug dieses Buch zu bewerten. Ich weiß nur, dass es ein prägendes Erlebnis war.
November 7, 2020
Es grenzt an ein Wunder, wie der bei Erscheinen der MUTMASSUNGEN gerade 25-jährige Uwe Johnson schon so ganz seine Sprache, seinen Stil und seinen Figurenkosmos gefunden hat, den er literarisch bis zum Ende nicht wieder verlassen würde. Für den Einstieg in Johnsons Welt ist MUTMASSUNGEN für den Leser sicherlich hartes Brot, denn die komplexe Struktur des Romans und die Polyphonie erfordern Geduld und die Bereitschaft, sich einzudenken.
Johnson war ein unglaublich exakter Erzähler, der sich hinsichtlich der historischen "Begleitumstände", also der Zeitgeschichte, des Nationalsozialismus und des Sozialismus in der DDR, keine Fehler erlaubte und seine akribischen Recherchen setzten sich bis zum Ende der JAHRESTAGE immer weiter fort. Gesine und Heinrich Cresspahl und auch die anderen Charaktere werden uns durch sein Werk begleiten, vor allem aber auch nicht zu vergessen die Landschaft Mecklenburgs, die man mit recht als eigenständigen Protagonisten betrachten darf.
Heute, wo die Romanhandlung 65 Jahre in der Vergangenheit liegt, wo selbst der Staat, um den es geht, nicht mehr existiert, könnte man meinen, dass sich die MUTMASSUNGEN nur noch aus historischem Interesse lesen lassen. Aber auch wenn es eines der drei Bücher ist, die 1959 zum literarischen Etappenjahr der deutschen Literatur machten: die MUTMASSUNGEN sind auch heute noch unbedingt lesenswert, weil die Qualität des Romans ihresgleichen sucht.
Persönlich verbindet mich allerdings sehr viel mehr als literarisches Interesse mit Johnsons Werk. Wenn die Sprache, die manchmal etwas befremdlich wirkt, plötzlich umspringt, wenn das, was eben noch spröde war, plötzlich wunderschön lyrisch, bewegend, warmherzig wird, dann rührt mich dieser Wechsel zutiefst. Und die Cresspahls sind fast so etwas wie eine Familie für mich, ich kenne ihre Biografien, ihre Stärken und Schwächen, ich weiß, was ich von ihnen erwarten kann und was nicht. Sie sind für mich keine literarischen Figuren, sie sind Personen; sie stehen mir näher als mancher "echte" Mensch. Schlage ich ein Buch von Johnson auf, dann ist es so, als käme Familie zu Besuch. Nur leider lebt aus dieser Familie niemand mehr und die Zeiten haben sich geändert. Ja, auch Melancholie gehört zur unmittelbaren Leseerfahrung. MUTMASSUNGEN hat noch nichts von der Traurigkeit, die die JAHRESTAGE haben, aber es ist alles schon angelegt.
Nur die allerwenigsten Autoren können an Johnsons Seite einen Platz in meinem Herz einnehmen. Würde es Johnsons Bücher nicht geben, der Platz bliebe unbesetzt. Wüsste man, was fehlt? Die Frage ist unmöglich zu beantworten, aber ich möchte sie mit "ja" beantworten.
Ja, ohne Johnsons Bücher wäre mein Leseleben ein anderes.
Johnson war ein unglaublich exakter Erzähler, der sich hinsichtlich der historischen "Begleitumstände", also der Zeitgeschichte, des Nationalsozialismus und des Sozialismus in der DDR, keine Fehler erlaubte und seine akribischen Recherchen setzten sich bis zum Ende der JAHRESTAGE immer weiter fort. Gesine und Heinrich Cresspahl und auch die anderen Charaktere werden uns durch sein Werk begleiten, vor allem aber auch nicht zu vergessen die Landschaft Mecklenburgs, die man mit recht als eigenständigen Protagonisten betrachten darf.
Heute, wo die Romanhandlung 65 Jahre in der Vergangenheit liegt, wo selbst der Staat, um den es geht, nicht mehr existiert, könnte man meinen, dass sich die MUTMASSUNGEN nur noch aus historischem Interesse lesen lassen. Aber auch wenn es eines der drei Bücher ist, die 1959 zum literarischen Etappenjahr der deutschen Literatur machten: die MUTMASSUNGEN sind auch heute noch unbedingt lesenswert, weil die Qualität des Romans ihresgleichen sucht.
Persönlich verbindet mich allerdings sehr viel mehr als literarisches Interesse mit Johnsons Werk. Wenn die Sprache, die manchmal etwas befremdlich wirkt, plötzlich umspringt, wenn das, was eben noch spröde war, plötzlich wunderschön lyrisch, bewegend, warmherzig wird, dann rührt mich dieser Wechsel zutiefst. Und die Cresspahls sind fast so etwas wie eine Familie für mich, ich kenne ihre Biografien, ihre Stärken und Schwächen, ich weiß, was ich von ihnen erwarten kann und was nicht. Sie sind für mich keine literarischen Figuren, sie sind Personen; sie stehen mir näher als mancher "echte" Mensch. Schlage ich ein Buch von Johnson auf, dann ist es so, als käme Familie zu Besuch. Nur leider lebt aus dieser Familie niemand mehr und die Zeiten haben sich geändert. Ja, auch Melancholie gehört zur unmittelbaren Leseerfahrung. MUTMASSUNGEN hat noch nichts von der Traurigkeit, die die JAHRESTAGE haben, aber es ist alles schon angelegt.
Nur die allerwenigsten Autoren können an Johnsons Seite einen Platz in meinem Herz einnehmen. Würde es Johnsons Bücher nicht geben, der Platz bliebe unbesetzt. Wüsste man, was fehlt? Die Frage ist unmöglich zu beantworten, aber ich möchte sie mit "ja" beantworten.
Ja, ohne Johnsons Bücher wäre mein Leseleben ein anderes.
February 23, 2015
The world is full of opinions about freedom, it hasn't been waiting just for me, I act as though I had something to contribute that nobody knows, as though everybody would perish without this revelation out of my brain, do I want to be indispensable? Can't even make a fire with it. And Jakob was holding his hand out to her from the other side of the brook so she wouldn't skid on the smooth slimy gnarled logs and she said, so, on her toes bent forward for balance and, no, Jakob said. Even if they had something, it couldn't be told.
But Jakob always cut across the tracks. It's true that he knew the train schedules. Was his friendly face, open with a greeting or goodnight to everyone holding his patience for nothing. There was the coal shortage, stranded hope. Watchtowers wrong all along. I don't know if Jakob wanted to die. I could argue for either intention and still feel like I never knew Jakob. 'Speculations About Jakob' is designed this way. The GDR agent Herr Rohlfs began his intent in Jakob from a file of a former citizen, now a NATO employee in the West. His mother is frightened by his interrogations and flees to West Berlin. Jakob was young Gesine Cresspahl's brother. Not her brother by blood, her family savior. Her father has been hauling in and out black market furniture. They have secrets from them and They. She squirreled newspapers and indignation. Jakob is everything and she pines for him when the freedom isn't a light switched on. Her father misses her, they are fascinated with the ghost of Gesine's memory. She lives in cold these weren't all the answers. Maybe if she haunted the past, or took it with her. The Pomeranian refugees had boarded in her father's house. Jakob's mother became her mother. Gesine and Rohlf's admire their honorable Jakob. Jonas is a assistant professor of philology, in love with Gesine. A dissident wanting to change from the inside. He is afraid of the teaching future he hasn't stepped out of the way. Gesine returns to East Berlin, it's amazing she isn't seen. Is that a camera in her bag. Rohlfs has her passport photo from her file. He sees her with Jakob and determines that she is not that pretty, inaccessible and stuck up. People watching Jakob with his ex-girlfriend Sabine judge her for accessibility too. I really wondered about that. Why they needed their young women to be theirs in alternate events. The possessiveness hangs about Jakob too. Herr Rohlfs especially idealizes his Jakob. He somehow lives in a GDR where their system is unfailing and right. I don't know about Jakob. Did he stop his coworker from preventing trains to stop the uprising in Hungary because it was futile anyway? I keep thinking about how Jakob didn't think about the black market during the war. Rumors of rapes in the woods that didn't affect him. He tells Rohlfs that he has his own mind because he was lucky to have been born too late for the war, and a dead Nazi father too far in past's memory to make him different. I never knew how much Jakob was telling Rohlfs what he wanted to hear. Did he truly think the shit was theirs and not Theirs. I keep thinking about Jakob going to sleep with the flow. Jakob had a friend from his schooldays he is already saying goodbye to when he learns about his mother's disappearance. He doesn't lift his hand to Joche in the window as he did every day. When they have their let's-not-admit-just-yet-this-is-the-last-time lunch he doesn't want to say goodbye. When he does it is as it was when he didn't lift his hand. Joche had been the makes life easy breezy lemon squeezey. I don't want to say he is Jakob what Jakob is to the others. The lucky one untouched by the sword. I keep thinking about Jakob's days separated into before work, work and after work. Jakob is their good old boy socialist. When he visits Gesine in the West (Rohlfs allows him to go, still hoping for his agent. Jealously watching his back) she imagines him fused with the phone, apart of everything. See Jakob livid with how they live. Decadent air conditioning and waited on. She doesn't mind when he minds. I'm curious about how their feelings are pronounced based off of others. The right or wrong about socialism (and I don't believe that what they had in the GDR was what Rohlfs or Jakob would admit they had) didn't interest me that much. I wanted to know if Jakob thought what I did that he lost the life he thought he had when his comely neighbor fled to the West. He didn't know why his mother left as the reader does. He has to prepare answers. What does he really feel? Does he miss her? Herr Rohfls doesn't think about his part when he's interrogating Gesine about Jakob. Gesine says stay here. He says come back and it is described as sounding mimicking that he doesn't feel. If Gesine had told Jakob she loved him maybe they would have gotten together. If she had never left to know that she had built him into everything. But he couldn't live there and if he crossed the tracks on purpose or not he couldn't have lived as before. Different things about Jakob keep coming back to me. Was it just how Gesine, Rohlfs and Jonas saw him? Maybe he knew there wasn't anything left for him as he accepted them and then he took to the tracks. The missing part of Jakob was perfect. It's better than some no one really knows anybody thing. I liked a lot how Johnson did this. No one can get away from their politics to really live. It's better than their fanaticism, though. It's something elusive private thing and it's intruded on. Something to defend. Maybe he didn't even think about it on a conscious level.
But Jakob always cut across the tracks. It's true that he knew the train schedules. Was his friendly face, open with a greeting or goodnight to everyone holding his patience for nothing. There was the coal shortage, stranded hope. Watchtowers wrong all along. I don't know if Jakob wanted to die. I could argue for either intention and still feel like I never knew Jakob. 'Speculations About Jakob' is designed this way. The GDR agent Herr Rohlfs began his intent in Jakob from a file of a former citizen, now a NATO employee in the West. His mother is frightened by his interrogations and flees to West Berlin. Jakob was young Gesine Cresspahl's brother. Not her brother by blood, her family savior. Her father has been hauling in and out black market furniture. They have secrets from them and They. She squirreled newspapers and indignation. Jakob is everything and she pines for him when the freedom isn't a light switched on. Her father misses her, they are fascinated with the ghost of Gesine's memory. She lives in cold these weren't all the answers. Maybe if she haunted the past, or took it with her. The Pomeranian refugees had boarded in her father's house. Jakob's mother became her mother. Gesine and Rohlf's admire their honorable Jakob. Jonas is a assistant professor of philology, in love with Gesine. A dissident wanting to change from the inside. He is afraid of the teaching future he hasn't stepped out of the way. Gesine returns to East Berlin, it's amazing she isn't seen. Is that a camera in her bag. Rohlfs has her passport photo from her file. He sees her with Jakob and determines that she is not that pretty, inaccessible and stuck up. People watching Jakob with his ex-girlfriend Sabine judge her for accessibility too. I really wondered about that. Why they needed their young women to be theirs in alternate events. The possessiveness hangs about Jakob too. Herr Rohlfs especially idealizes his Jakob. He somehow lives in a GDR where their system is unfailing and right. I don't know about Jakob. Did he stop his coworker from preventing trains to stop the uprising in Hungary because it was futile anyway? I keep thinking about how Jakob didn't think about the black market during the war. Rumors of rapes in the woods that didn't affect him. He tells Rohlfs that he has his own mind because he was lucky to have been born too late for the war, and a dead Nazi father too far in past's memory to make him different. I never knew how much Jakob was telling Rohlfs what he wanted to hear. Did he truly think the shit was theirs and not Theirs. I keep thinking about Jakob going to sleep with the flow. Jakob had a friend from his schooldays he is already saying goodbye to when he learns about his mother's disappearance. He doesn't lift his hand to Joche in the window as he did every day. When they have their let's-not-admit-just-yet-this-is-the-last-time lunch he doesn't want to say goodbye. When he does it is as it was when he didn't lift his hand. Joche had been the makes life easy breezy lemon squeezey. I don't want to say he is Jakob what Jakob is to the others. The lucky one untouched by the sword. I keep thinking about Jakob's days separated into before work, work and after work. Jakob is their good old boy socialist. When he visits Gesine in the West (Rohlfs allows him to go, still hoping for his agent. Jealously watching his back) she imagines him fused with the phone, apart of everything. See Jakob livid with how they live. Decadent air conditioning and waited on. She doesn't mind when he minds. I'm curious about how their feelings are pronounced based off of others. The right or wrong about socialism (and I don't believe that what they had in the GDR was what Rohlfs or Jakob would admit they had) didn't interest me that much. I wanted to know if Jakob thought what I did that he lost the life he thought he had when his comely neighbor fled to the West. He didn't know why his mother left as the reader does. He has to prepare answers. What does he really feel? Does he miss her? Herr Rohfls doesn't think about his part when he's interrogating Gesine about Jakob. Gesine says stay here. He says come back and it is described as sounding mimicking that he doesn't feel. If Gesine had told Jakob she loved him maybe they would have gotten together. If she had never left to know that she had built him into everything. But he couldn't live there and if he crossed the tracks on purpose or not he couldn't have lived as before. Different things about Jakob keep coming back to me. Was it just how Gesine, Rohlfs and Jonas saw him? Maybe he knew there wasn't anything left for him as he accepted them and then he took to the tracks. The missing part of Jakob was perfect. It's better than some no one really knows anybody thing. I liked a lot how Johnson did this. No one can get away from their politics to really live. It's better than their fanaticism, though. It's something elusive private thing and it's intruded on. Something to defend. Maybe he didn't even think about it on a conscious level.
dnf
November 8, 2020Abbruch nach Kapitel 2.
November 12, 2020
Habe versprochen, keine Review zu verfassen, denn es steht (fast) alles bei Semjon. Daran soll nicht gerüttelt werden, denn ich stimme ihm voll zu. ;-) Nur zwei Anmerkungen und eine Vermutung: An literarischen Anspielungen, die ich so beim kurzen Überblick über die Sekundärliteratur nicht fand, sind der "Mann ohne Eigenschaften" (Musil) und "Kater Murr" (Hoffmann) interessant. In der Tat hat Ulrich im MoE nicht "keine" Eigenschaften, sondern derer zu viele. Seine Motive sind also nicht ein(!)seitig ideologisch, sondern so widersprüchlich wie das Leben selbst. Musil karikiert geradezu diejenigen seiner Protagonisten, die glauben, etwas zu wissen, denn er führt deren Sich- im Kreise Drehen unerbittlich vor. Johnson karikiert Rohlfs, seinen Stasi-Mann, nicht. Er zeigt jedoch einen Menschen, dessen Versuch frühere Irrtümer als faschistischer Soldat "wieder gut zu machen" (und der mit Kriegsverletzungen dafür bezahlt hat) zunehmend mit seinem neuen Menschen- und Gesellschaftsbild aufgrund der zwanghaft aufrecht erhaltenen Linientreue kollidiert. Er hat das neue Weltbild eben nur übernommen und es sich nie selbst erarbeitet. Deswegen überzeugt es auch nicht. Anders ist das bei Jonas, dessen intellektuelle Auseinandersetzung mit dem Freiheitsproblem im Sozialismus eine originäre und tief erfasste ist; sie gipfelt in dem Postulat, dass totale Freiheit das Ideal der Gleichheit und totale Gleichheit das der Freiheit unmöglich mache. (Wolfgang Harichs Auseinandersetzungen mit Ernst Bloch lassen grüßen!) Weil er dieses Paradoxon, das ihm Westen wie Osten gleichermaßen unannehmbar macht, nicht lösen kann, liefert er sich widerstandslos der Verhaftung durch Rohlfs aus, obwohl er doch hätte in den Westen gehen können. Jonas bleibt quasi im Osten (wenn auch im Knast), weil ihm die Idee der Gleichheit trotz allem besser gefällt, was man an der Affinität zum einfachen Leben Cresspahls und Jakobs sieht. Trotzdem ist er schon in Cresspahls Haus allein. Die Leute in der Versammlung hatten ihn nicht verstanden, sein Chef wollte das erst mal "ausgearbeitet" sehen und Cresspahl und Jacob beschäftigen sich zwar mit Jonas' Überlegungen, stehen ihnen aber hilflos gegenüber (Cresspahl gewiss, bei Jakob bin ich nicht ganz sicher). Dass Jonas mit den Menschen keine Übereinkunft erreichen kann, zeigt Johnson in seiner Hinwendung zur Katze des verstorbenen Pfarrers. Die beiden lernen miteinander umzugehen und einander zu verstehen. Hoffmanns "Unterhaltungen" mit seinem Kater lassen grüßen! - Davon ab noch ein Nachsatz zum Titel: "Mutmassung" kommt das erste Mal (soweit ich sehe) im Text im Zusammenhang mit sprachhistorischen Überlegungen zum Formwandel der englischen Sprache vor. Man kann darüber etwas wissen, aber entschieden ist die Diskussion nicht. Würde man eine rein sprachsoziologische Betrachtung (Klassenkampftheorie des M/L- Johnson erwähnt das in Jonas' Überlegungen) favorisieren, wäre das Problem mit Blick auf Wörter, deren Übernahme und Bedeutungswandel klar, allerdings um den Preis der "Form" (Grammatik, Aussprachewandel etc.) Wer würde hier nicht die Verteidigung der eigenwilligen Sprachform des Buches heraus hören, das sich einer soziologischen Verflachung (Jakob = Arbeiter = klassenbewusst; Jonas = Intellektueller = wankelmütig) im Sinne des Sozialistischen Realismus radikal verschließt? Während soziologische Betrachtungsweisen, ganz platt gesagt, zu einer "Stammbaumtheorie" der Sprachen (Ursprache als "Baum" und dann die Verzweigung in "Äste") nach Curtius führen würden, führt die formalistische Sprachbetrachtung die Entstehung von Einzelsprachen aus der "Überlappung" vieler umliegender Dialektformen ("Sprachen" sind alle "Mischsprachen" - Suchard) zurück. Und ist es nicht so, dass Johnson selbst über die Ziele der Geschichte nur "mutmaßt", indem er zeigt, wie wenig er schon in den privaten Geschichten von Gesine, Cresspahl und Jakob (auch Rohlfs) nur einen (!) Sinn finden kann? Geschichte ist für Interpretationen offen und was daraus wird, kann nicht gewusst werden. So bleibt Jakobs Ende für Interpretationen offen und wie sein Andenken in Gesine, Jonas etc. weiter wirken wird, kann am Ende des Romans niemand vorher sagen. Johnson bleibt der Sache aber auf der Spur und übernimmt sein "Personal" in seine nächsten Bücher, die ich nun noch einmal lesen muss! Danke für die Einladung die Lektüre dieses sperrigen Buches noch einmal zu versuchen. Wie großartig es ist, habe ich mit 22 oder 23 Jahren nicht realisiert!
November 25, 2021
Ich muss immer aufpassen Rezensionen nicht so retrospektiv zu schreiben weil die Bücher in meinem Kopf dann sehr viel besser werden als sie waren aber ich habe mich auf super nüchterne DDR Literatur eingestellt und dann war es echt schön und es wurde viel über den Himmel geredet.
July 26, 2016
Obviously I'll have to reread this. Some parts will only make sense at the third pass. Some will never do. If there is a "beginning", a "middle" and whatever else belongs to a narrative, it is not linearly arrangeable, and I do not even mean chronology. It is a dense wad of strands, which, when thrown even at the most reasonable of readers, may produce a bout of dyslexia sublimated by commonplace expectorations and blame-it-on-the-author kind of criticism.
So, if you expect a "tale well told" and a page-turner, turn away. If, on the other hand, you want to see the ripped backside of language (German!) and succumb to a reader's PTSD, and tie a knot into your reading list, go ahead.
Johnson is one of the few truly accursed fiction writers who combines astonishing technique, inconceivable structural solutions and the bleeding truth of history, which he is able to see with a clear perspective as if he were generations away, even as it is smothering him. It is a mystery much more disturbing than the fact that one has to dig deep into the text to excavate the chronology and aetiology of events.
Johnson tells the tale of a meticulous, brilliant train dispatcher who gets hit by a train - if you get the irony and the allegorical meaning of the plot (revealing the works of the evolving GDR socialism), you will not follow the blurb's guesswork advice: is it a suicide? is it a murder? is it an accident? There is nothing solid about the case: all is speculation, ideology turns everyone into a spy, whatever you know reaches you through the grapevine, any person is a dossier, a paper trail of disparate font faces and handwriting samples (which is, thankfully, not played out in the book's typography). And a whole range of strikingly variegated personalities naturally disrupt the flow of the text, incorporate the inevitable conflict of the individual with the ideological, convert the book into a kind of chaotic explosion diagram of the time and place that expelled and eventually destroyed the writer.
While I wasn't even always sure whose words I was reading and what exactly happened in terms of the plot and why, I know now that I have never read anything as convincingly clear, truthful and personal as "Mutmaßungen über Jakob" about the ambitions and conflicts of the post-war socialism.
And yes, it is very autobiographical, and, yes, some characters even have close prototypes with similar fates.
So, if you expect a "tale well told" and a page-turner, turn away. If, on the other hand, you want to see the ripped backside of language (German!) and succumb to a reader's PTSD, and tie a knot into your reading list, go ahead.
Johnson is one of the few truly accursed fiction writers who combines astonishing technique, inconceivable structural solutions and the bleeding truth of history, which he is able to see with a clear perspective as if he were generations away, even as it is smothering him. It is a mystery much more disturbing than the fact that one has to dig deep into the text to excavate the chronology and aetiology of events.
Johnson tells the tale of a meticulous, brilliant train dispatcher who gets hit by a train - if you get the irony and the allegorical meaning of the plot (revealing the works of the evolving GDR socialism), you will not follow the blurb's guesswork advice: is it a suicide? is it a murder? is it an accident? There is nothing solid about the case: all is speculation, ideology turns everyone into a spy, whatever you know reaches you through the grapevine, any person is a dossier, a paper trail of disparate font faces and handwriting samples (which is, thankfully, not played out in the book's typography). And a whole range of strikingly variegated personalities naturally disrupt the flow of the text, incorporate the inevitable conflict of the individual with the ideological, convert the book into a kind of chaotic explosion diagram of the time and place that expelled and eventually destroyed the writer.
While I wasn't even always sure whose words I was reading and what exactly happened in terms of the plot and why, I know now that I have never read anything as convincingly clear, truthful and personal as "Mutmaßungen über Jakob" about the ambitions and conflicts of the post-war socialism.
And yes, it is very autobiographical, and, yes, some characters even have close prototypes with similar fates.
Read
February 27, 2025Deutsche Trolley Problem
August 1, 2012
Wirr und langweilig. Habe nicht die Nerven, dieses Buch zu Ende zu lesen, da auch nach der Hälte weder Sinn, noch Plott oder gar Interssantes einsetzen.
December 30, 2022
Moeilijk boek, dat ik graag nog eens in het Nederlands wil herlezen. De stijl bestaat voor een groot deel uit speculaties - de gissingen uit de titel - over de vraag wat er met Jakob Abs is gebeurd, een spoorwegambtenaar uit de DDR die in de herfst van 1956, ten tijde van de Hongaarse opstand, om het leven komt bij het oversteken van het spoor. Was het een ongeluk, zelfmoord, of toch moord? Veel innerlijke monologen en gesprekken tussen verschillende inwoners van de DDR, die alle de psychologische, morele en politieke gevolgen van het gedeelde Duitsland anders beleven en beschouwen.
October 6, 2025
2.5 / 5 ⭐️
January 31, 2023
Der verständlichste Satz des ganzen Romans, der gleichzeitig Unverständnis in den Charakteren auslöst und Katalysator für die vielen Mutmaßungen über Jakob ist: Aber Jakob ist doch immer quer über die Gleise gegangen.
Klingt interessant? Ist es auch…. wenn man es nur verstehen würde.
Klingt interessant? Ist es auch…. wenn man es nur verstehen würde.
December 27, 2017
A lot of people here have criticized the writing style of Johnson. This is no book where the omniscient author tells you the story. It is told by different voices and from different perspectives. But the style is just necessary for what Johnson wants to tell and show. It's not there to discourage or create barriers.
There are a lot of things we all can't know. If you don't always understand everything in this book, it is just because that's life. Don't try. This is a different reading experience, just let the text touch and affect you. And see what this does to you. It creates a very delicate intimacy with the persons in the book, and with the author. There is a deep respect in there for human beings and their stories and for the fact that they all have their own dignity. And that not understanding everything AND accepting that you don't understand, is part of this respect. Maybe that's what I found the most astounding and touching in this lecture.
Then, this is again a book which made me "see" scenes, persons, landscapes; and it made me reflect a lot about the role and influence that politics have in the lives of us human beings. This is a very personal and at the same time very political book. It shows how politics writes into the bodies of people.
It made me reflect a lot about capitalism and the alternatives we may have or not have to this economical and political system. This was a subject dear to Johnson.
Then, you think: These people he describes, they are not pragmatic enough. Too exact, too honest, want to be too much themselves without too many contradictions. Because we all make compromises with our values, in order to make a living.
But this Jakob is very real, like all persons in the book. The choices he had to make were not easy and he didn't make them easily or light-heartened. Maybe this is a very German approach to life, though. So earnest.
There are a lot of things we all can't know. If you don't always understand everything in this book, it is just because that's life. Don't try. This is a different reading experience, just let the text touch and affect you. And see what this does to you. It creates a very delicate intimacy with the persons in the book, and with the author. There is a deep respect in there for human beings and their stories and for the fact that they all have their own dignity. And that not understanding everything AND accepting that you don't understand, is part of this respect. Maybe that's what I found the most astounding and touching in this lecture.
Then, this is again a book which made me "see" scenes, persons, landscapes; and it made me reflect a lot about the role and influence that politics have in the lives of us human beings. This is a very personal and at the same time very political book. It shows how politics writes into the bodies of people.
It made me reflect a lot about capitalism and the alternatives we may have or not have to this economical and political system. This was a subject dear to Johnson.
Then, you think: These people he describes, they are not pragmatic enough. Too exact, too honest, want to be too much themselves without too many contradictions. Because we all make compromises with our values, in order to make a living.
But this Jakob is very real, like all persons in the book. The choices he had to make were not easy and he didn't make them easily or light-heartened. Maybe this is a very German approach to life, though. So earnest.
August 4, 2011
Speculations About Jakob may be my favorite book that I have ever read. It is definitely up there, at any rate.
The plot of Johnson's novel is very twisted an convoluted, and therefore it is difficult to follow for a while. I believe that this is actually part of the plan, since it was written in a time when no one was really sure how anything would work in society. From the confusion of a divided Germany to the speculations about international spies, the novel is shrouded in mystery.
About halfway through, passages start clearing up, and the reader is let in on a few secrets. You're not told everything (even in the end of the novel, there is no pretty packaged product here), but you are given some key details to start putting names to passages.
Speculations About Jakob is a postmodern masterpiece that bridges East and West Germany, and it is a prime example of literature. This one definitely warrants a second read, in fact it deserves it.
The plot of Johnson's novel is very twisted an convoluted, and therefore it is difficult to follow for a while. I believe that this is actually part of the plan, since it was written in a time when no one was really sure how anything would work in society. From the confusion of a divided Germany to the speculations about international spies, the novel is shrouded in mystery.
About halfway through, passages start clearing up, and the reader is let in on a few secrets. You're not told everything (even in the end of the novel, there is no pretty packaged product here), but you are given some key details to start putting names to passages.
Speculations About Jakob is a postmodern masterpiece that bridges East and West Germany, and it is a prime example of literature. This one definitely warrants a second read, in fact it deserves it.
March 30, 2019
Dit boek na jaren opnieuw gelezen, omdat het de voorloper is van "Anniversaries" . Ik vond het destijds best een moeilijk boek. Dezelfde hoofdpersonen nu in de tijd van de Hongaarse revolutie. die komt overigens maar terloops ter sprake. Interessanter is het leven in de DDR van de 50er jaren. Ook hier weer een op het eerste gezicht onsamenhangend verhaal, maar geleidelijk wordt het wel duidelijker. Het is vaak niet helder welk personage er aan het woord is. Het boek is me dit keer een stuk duidelijker, omdat ik de personen al ken uit "Anniversaries".
January 18, 2014
Nicht einfach zu lesen - das Gesamtbild baut sich für den Leser aus kleinen Bauteilen zusammen. Wort- und Satzspiele sind extrem spannend. Dieses Sittengemälde der DDR kann man häufiger lesen.
September 5, 2018
I read this book on the recommendation of a smart German friend who mentioned it as his favorite book. Unfortunately my German is not yet at the point where reading this in the original would be practical, so I read it in Molinaro's rendition.
This is a strange and challenging book, all the more so in translation - I believe it would be slightly more "coherent" in the original German, as much of the writing has the sound of experimental. The first part of the book was quite difficult for me to get into but gradually about halfway I started to enjoy and appreciate it more. Nevertheless this is a book where a lot happens and not much is made totally clear. (I learned what this book is "about" at least as much from the back cover description as from actually reading those occurrences!) The word "speculations" in the title is most apt - a lot of stuff (including historical context) is quite indirect and I suppose part of the joy of reading this is trying to piece together what the hell is happening (it has the feel of Faulkner or Joyce at many points). The mood Johnson's speculations create is rather compelling and unique.
This is a book that would benefit from multiple readings, preferably in the original language, from a patient, intelligent reader who is ok not getting everything. Maybe one day I'll be able to make more sense of it!
This is a strange and challenging book, all the more so in translation - I believe it would be slightly more "coherent" in the original German, as much of the writing has the sound of experimental. The first part of the book was quite difficult for me to get into but gradually about halfway I started to enjoy and appreciate it more. Nevertheless this is a book where a lot happens and not much is made totally clear. (I learned what this book is "about" at least as much from the back cover description as from actually reading those occurrences!) The word "speculations" in the title is most apt - a lot of stuff (including historical context) is quite indirect and I suppose part of the joy of reading this is trying to piece together what the hell is happening (it has the feel of Faulkner or Joyce at many points). The mood Johnson's speculations create is rather compelling and unique.
This is a book that would benefit from multiple readings, preferably in the original language, from a patient, intelligent reader who is ok not getting everything. Maybe one day I'll be able to make more sense of it!
October 6, 2019
Dit boek heb in het Duits beluisterd en tegelijkertijd de Nederlandse vertaling meegelezen. Dat was wel nodig ook, want Johnson schrijft ‘moeilijke’ boeken, met sprongen in de tijd en telkens verschillende vertelperspectieven. Maar op deze manier bleef ik goed bij de les. Het is een bijzonder serieus boek, humorloos, waarbij ik me vooral de grauwe sfeer van de eerste jaren van de DDR zal herinneren, die Johnson heeft weten te schetsen. Jacob overlijdt, maar dat is geen spoiler, want wordt al in de eerste twee alinea’s gesuggereerd.
April 3, 2024
The worst thing I've ever read. Incoherent gibberish. Sentences, not only lacking clarity, which is fine in the hands of a capable writer, but lacking subjects, verbs, and prepositions. Disconected fragment after disconnected fragment from anonymous mouths. Johnson had talent but wasted it writing this trash and drinking himself to death. He tried to be Faulkner and failed miserably.
January 1, 2024
DNF about a quarter of the way through. Rough start to the new year. Will have to ask about this one a bit more for whether I should return to it. Seemed like a weird experiment, which didn’t work…
June 10, 2025
rip Jakob. estabas bien hot
October 10, 2016
While in college, I was granted the opportunity to create an independent study on German literature. I was able to create my own curriculum, and as part of that I knew that I needed an East German writer, to represent the turmoil of the country's split. That led me to Uwe Johnson, who I added to the list because (and I kid you not) his name sounded cool.
What I was given is probably one of the best spy novels that I have ever read. It is just fantastic.
At first, Speculations is a little hard to follow. The threads don't seem to connect. I feel that I something of a point to make, however, because of the crisis of identity at the time. Even after the story starts to click, we are never given the full story. I love that Johnson doesn't just lay out the truth here. The whole point of intrigue is mystery, so clearing everything up would remove the magic.
I feel completely justified in considering Speculations About Jakob a post-modern masterpiece, and one that is in desperate need for a resurgence. The Cold War is such an interesting time for the world, and Johnson was likely overlooked due to his allegiances.
What I was given is probably one of the best spy novels that I have ever read. It is just fantastic.
At first, Speculations is a little hard to follow. The threads don't seem to connect. I feel that I something of a point to make, however, because of the crisis of identity at the time. Even after the story starts to click, we are never given the full story. I love that Johnson doesn't just lay out the truth here. The whole point of intrigue is mystery, so clearing everything up would remove the magic.
I feel completely justified in considering Speculations About Jakob a post-modern masterpiece, and one that is in desperate need for a resurgence. The Cold War is such an interesting time for the world, and Johnson was likely overlooked due to his allegiances.
December 9, 2008
Quite difficult reading. Johnson's very modern narrative style is making high demands on his readers. There is no all knowing narrator, the reader has to gather insight from dialogues, monologues, snippets of a conversation, mental leaps, speculations.
It makes it easier to know the proceedings before reading, otherwise it's hard to follow.
Although this book is hard to read, it is an interesting book. It was not published in German Democratic Republic because of it's view on the secret police. Johnson's work presents a realistic scenario of the early German Democratic Republic.
If you don't be afraid of the efforts, "Speculations about Jakob", published 1959 by a Western German publisher, is a gainful reading which provides a meaningful insight into the issues in times of separation of East and West Germany after World War II.
It makes it easier to know the proceedings before reading, otherwise it's hard to follow.
Although this book is hard to read, it is an interesting book. It was not published in German Democratic Republic because of it's view on the secret police. Johnson's work presents a realistic scenario of the early German Democratic Republic.
If you don't be afraid of the efforts, "Speculations about Jakob", published 1959 by a Western German publisher, is a gainful reading which provides a meaningful insight into the issues in times of separation of East and West Germany after World War II.
July 25, 2015
Auf Seite 80 abgebrochen. Lesen sollte keine reine Qual sein und genau das passiert mir hier. Kaum veständliche Sätze von Personen, die im Ungewissen bleiben und der Inhalt, also die Geschichte selbst, kommt hinter diesen Hürden kaum durch. Solange ich noch andere Bücher zu lesen habe, tu ich mir sowas nicht weiter an. (Evtl. noch die letzten 20 Seiten für die Leserunde morgen, das war's dann aber.)
Nachtrag nach der Diskussion in der Literaturrunde:
Ein Buch, dessen Inhalt nur mit ausführlichem Lektüreschlüssel zu verstehen ist (wenn überhaupt!), empfand nicht nur ich als Zumutung. Freude am Lesen kommt so beim besten Willen nicht auf, höchstens der Ehrgeiz, sich durchzubeißen - und auch das nur bei einer von sechs anwesenden Personen.
Nachtrag nach der Diskussion in der Literaturrunde:
Ein Buch, dessen Inhalt nur mit ausführlichem Lektüreschlüssel zu verstehen ist (wenn überhaupt!), empfand nicht nur ich als Zumutung. Freude am Lesen kommt so beim besten Willen nicht auf, höchstens der Ehrgeiz, sich durchzubeißen - und auch das nur bei einer von sechs anwesenden Personen.
September 8, 2024
Diese neue Rostocker Ausgabe ist wirklich wunderbar endlich muss sich die Leserin nicht mehr mit braunstichigen Paperbacks herumschlagen.
Der Text kommt mir noch schöner und mächtiger entgegen als bisher.
Der Text kommt mir noch schöner und mächtiger entgegen als bisher.
August 3, 2013
Eines der besten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe!
June 22, 2014
amazingly prescient about the GDR. And a fabulous book. And of course the Faulknerian influence of multiple perspectives.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews